New Delhi [India], May 19 (ANI): Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday hailed the Indian armed forces over the incredible execution of Operation Sindoor last year, saying that the strike was a testament to the military's strategic perseverance.

Speaking at a seminar on 'Security to Prosperity: Smart Power for Sustained National Growth' at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies in the national capital, he said that the Operation Sindoor delivered military precision, information control, diplomatic signalling, and economic resolve

'12 months ago, India offered the world a partial answer to the so-called smart power question. On the intervening night of May 6 and May 7, in a precise 22-minute operation window, Operation Sindoor delivered military precision, information control, diplomatic signalling, and economic resolve as one coherent national act. It struck deep, dismantled terra-infrastructure, punctured a long-standing strategic assumption, and then stopped. Deliberately and purposefully. The deliberate halt after 88 hours was smart-powered in its most complete expression, knowing exactly which was meant to apply, at what intensity and went to convert a military movement into a strategic one,' he said.

The Army Chief further emphasised that the power politics are being used to reorganise prosperity across the world, signalling distrust, disorder, and dichotomy of alliances.

'Today, the world around us is sending a more complex signal. Disorder, distrust and dichotomy in alliances. We were promised a world where prosperity would make power politics obsolete. Instead, we have a world where power politics is being used to reorganise prosperity,' he noted.

Further, he said that the boundary between security and prosperity no longer exists, underlining that the global defence spending has crossed $2.7 trillion, exceeding the entire budget for the UN's sustainable goals.

'Global defence spending has crossed $2.7 trillion, exceeding the entire budget for the UN's sustainable goals. The boundary between security and prosperity is no longer a boundary at all. Contemporary conflicts now impose sustained demands not only on armed forces but also on industrial production, research systems, and governance structures,' he said.

He underlined, 'Security is no longer a cause that prosperity must bear; it is the precondition for prosperity to commence its progressive journey.'

Operation Sindoor was India's deepest strike inside Pakistan's undisputed territory since 1971, according to CNN, successfully targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This marks New Delhi's most significant military action within Pakistani territory in over five decades.

The strikes were carried out to avenge the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and to eliminate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leaders involved in planning and executing terrorist attacks in India.

Indian Armed Forces successfully struck nine terror targets, four in Pakistan, including Bahawalpur, Muridke, and Sialkot, and five in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), using special precision munitions in a coordinated operation, sources told ANI.

The operation was jointly carried out by the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force, with the mobilisation of assets and troops. (ANI)